I Never Told You: special edition
by Veranda
Summary: An old fic from the Veranda tome reworked, rewritten, and gasp finished! Classic taiora theme, and some Matchmaker Matt chaos. Read, review, and enjoy!
1. one

I Never Told You special edition: part one

a/n: It's been three years since I've posted, and I know I'm very out of the loop, but I miss writing for this site so much sometimes that I just had to do it again. So, this is a fic I started many years ago and never finished. It got a really great response back then, and I probably owe it to someone to -finish it already-. So here it is, re-done and better than ever! (Taiora and Mimato content, and some fun Matchmaker Matt scenes. Set in Season Two, roughly.)

Disclaimer: Digimon is not my property. Though by this point, I may actually have a valid claim on Tai.

Dedication: Boombubble, Digidestined of Courage, and arpulver. Great to see a few familiar...faces...still around. Seeing your names on the Just In list convinced me to drop back in for a while. Keep it up, and thank you!

* * *

"Hello?" Kari called softly, stepping in to her seemingly empty apartment. Hearing no answer, she dumped her backpack on the couch and wandered toward the room she still shared with Tai, much to their dismay. The door was slightly open, and a thin stream of light was flickering on the carpet. She tiptoed across the living room and peeked inside, and was surprised to see Tai bent over his desk, working on something intently enough to pique her interest.

"He must not have heard me come in." She thought, "I wonder what he's working on..."

Kari backed away from the door slowly, the wheels in her head spinning; and like any other pesky little sister, she began to form a plan. She spotted his backpack on the counter and checked homework off her list of things Tai might be doing. That left the more promising option: something personal. A decidedly evil glint came in to her eyes.

She crept over to the front door, opened it silently, and stuck her arm outside to ring the doorbell. The second the sound rang out in the quiet apartment, she ran and dove behind the couch just in time for Tai to walk out of their room.

As soon as his back was turned, she sprinted as quietly a possible for the desk and started speed reading the first few lines. Her eyes widened, and she had considerable trouble stifling a giddy little laugh, settling for a whispered, "Fantastic!"

Thinking quickly (or not really thinking at all), she yanked out her digital camera, snapped a picture, and made a run for it. She ducked behind the couch just in time, and smiled at Tai's exasperated, "Stupid neighbor kids..."

When Tai was safely back in his room again, she walked over to the front door, opened it loudly, and yelled, "I'm home!"

She ran to the bedroom, barged in, and made a big show of trying to look at the desk, "Hey! What're you doing Tai?"

Tai yelped and shoved the paper under a stack of junk, "Don't you ever knock?!"

"Sorry." Kari said, pretending to be hurt, "I just came to ask you a question...but if you're busy..." She turned to leave.

Tai's expression softened, "What did you want to ask me?"

"Softie." Kari thought, and then said, "When mom gets home can you tell her I went to TK's and I'll be back before dinner?"

"Yeah, sure." Tai said, "Do you guys have some kind of project to work on or something?"

"You could say that." Kari answered with a smile, "Seeya in a few, brother."

"Okay." Tai said, "Bye."

"Bye!" Kari called cheerfully, already on her way, practically bouncing up and down with anticipation. She grabbed her backpack off the couch and ran out the door.

* * *

Matt opened the door to a very contented-looking Kari, clutching her camera and breathing heavily. She grinned at him. He raised an eyebrow, "Did you run the whole way here?"

"I've got something important to show TK." She said breathlessly, waving her camera around to emphasize her point.

"Blackmail pictures of Tai?" Matt asked.

Kari laughed, "Better."

Matt opened the door a little wider, "Please come inside."

"Thanks Matt." Kari said, running over to TK's door and knocking impatiently.

TK appeared in the doorway, "Hey Kari." The enormous grin slid back on to her face. He knew that look, "What did you do?"

She ignored his question and walked around him into his room, "Can I use your computer?"

"Um...sure." He glanced at his brother questioningly.

"Better than blackmail pictures." Matt said with a shrug.

Kari plugged her camera into the computer and loaded her pictures to the desktop. She scrolled through tons of beautifully taken shots of the digidestined, their personalities all captured in a way that only Kari could manage. TK glimpsed a picture of himself sprawled out on the Kamiyas' couch staring knowingly into the camera, and smiled. He failed to notice that there were more pictures of him than anyone else...but that's another story for another time.

Kari found what she was looking for at the bottom of the file. She clicked it, and enlarged it to fill the screen, "Ta da!"

TK and Matt both leaned in eagerly, and this is what they saw:

"Dear Sora,

When you know someone long enough, and love them long enough, I think they eventually become a part of you. One day you wake up and realize that they've become your missing half, and that they've filled a void you didn't know was empty. One day I woke up and realized that's how I feel about you. I'm tempted to say that this was meant to be; so much has been predestined in our lives already, but all I know is what you mean to me. Looks like the ball will always be in your court, because I'll never be ready to tell you. I faced everything the Digiworld could throw at me, but I'm too scared to tell the girl of my dreams how I feel about her. Sora, as much as I love you, I know I'll never be more than a friend in your eyes. Some good my crest does me now, huh? The most I can do is wish I could tell you that you're the best thing that has ever happened to me and hope that you already know.

All my love,

Tai"

When they had both finished the letter there was a long, stunned silence followed by a guffaw from Matt, and TK's excited exclamation of, "Tai wrote this? Kari, you are a genius!"

She laughed, "I know."

TK gave her a look, "No, I mean it. How did you manage this?"

"I used the doorbell." She said with a casual shrug. TK nodded knowingly, and Matt narrowed his eyes. He was about to ask TK exactly what he knew about the doorbell trick when he remembered the matter at hand.

"Kari, Tai would kill you if he knew you had this." They both looked at him expectantly until he added, "So what are we going to do with it?"

TK shook his head, "I won't be held accountable for this, Matt."

Matt glanced at Kari, who shook her head, "Not I."

He sighed, "It looks as though it's left to me."

Matt strode over to the computer and hit the "print" button with a flourish. TK and Kari watched him as if he'd lost his mind. If they'd thought back to some of the other stunts he'd pulled, they probably wouldn't have been surprised. He swiveled around in the computer chair to face Kari, "Does Sora like Tai?"

"Oh, definitely." She said.

"Any chance either of them will say something to the other in the next 10 years or so?" He continued.

"Definitely not." Kari and TK said in unison.

"That's what I thought." Matt said, "You guys stay here; I'm going to visit Sora."

The reality of the situation was becoming clearer and clearer to Kari, and she was beginning to fear for her life, "You wouldn't."

Matt winked at her and walked out the door.

TK looked at Kari, "He would."

* * *

a/n: And there you have it! I'm actually nearly finished with this whole fic. I'm working on chapter four right now, and there will probably be an epilogue. All in all it's about 90% done. So check back! I'm moving into my dorm right now, so I'm a bit swamped, but I'll be updating this one pretty quickly. Thanks! Review please!

Vera


	2. two

I Never Told You special edition: part two

a/n: Thanks so much to everyone who reviewed the first chapter! I loved writing this section SO much. I was in the happiest mood of all time. I'm pretty sure you'll know exactly what I'm talking about by the time you finish the first paragraph. It's pretty skippy.

Hey, wanna hear something completely unrelated to my story, but quite a bit funnier? I was walking around campus two nights ago, and about 30 naked guys ran by me, single file, yelling and causing a general commotion. Probably the oddest moment of my life thus far. Must've been fraternity initiation. You know all those stories they tell you about college? Yeah, funny thing, it's looking like they're true.

Disclaimer: If I owned Digimon, I would bring back the original eight, do a few more seasons, and release the whole series in DVD box sets. I think it's pretty clear that I still haven't taken over the world. -wink-

* * *

If anyone had been standing in front of Takenouchi's Garden at the moment Matt Ishida paid Sora a visit on that moderately sunny summer's day, they would have seen the normally cool and collected Bearer of Friendship practically skip up to the brightly decorated door and disappear with a cheerful jingle of the bell. As it was, there wasn't anyone around to see it, but Sora caught the tail end of the spectacle and couldn't help giggling at Matt as he stood there grinning in the doorway.

"Big date with Mimi tonight?" She ventured.

"What?" Matt asked, and then, "Oh. No. Well yes, but that's not why..." He cut himself off, took a deep breath, and began to resemble the Matt we all know and love, "I have something to tell you."

"Yeah?" Sora threw over her shoulder as she fluffed up a particularly happy looking window display, "I'll bet it's not as big as my news."

Matt laughed and hung his coat on the back of a chair, "I'll bet it is."

"Bigger than _my_ big date tonight?" She asked.

Matt raised his eyebrows, thinking that maybe Tai had actually done it, "With who?"

-Not Tai.- A little voice in her head reminded her. She ignored it, "His name is Tom. We met when he came into the-"

Matt didn't hear anything else. He was still stuck on "Tom". After a moment he realized that Sora had stopped talking and was looking at him strangely. He had been staring at her with his mouth open, embarrassingly enough, and quickly shut it, but the damage had already been done. He felt a blush creep up his cheeks.

"Are you Ok?" Sora asked.

"Huh? Oh...yeah." He said, unconvincingly.

"Whatever you say." She muttered, and decided to change the subject, "So, what did you came to tell me?"

"Oh, that. It doesn't really matter anymore. Looks like your news was bigger after all..." realizing he was rambling, Matt jumped directly to a short, "I have to go. I'm really happy for you Sora, he sounds...great."

-Well sure, but he's not Tai.- The little voice said smugly. Sora narrowed her eyes, "He is. Matt, you're acting very strange."

He shrugged, trying to subtly inch away from her, "Sorry. I guess I've got a lot on my mind."

By now he'd reached the door, and was on his way out. He sent Sora a decidedly nervous smile, and she raised an eyebrow at him.

"Congratulations!" He called, and then he was gone.

Sora stared after him. She shook her head, "Odd."

* * *

"This doesn't make sense." Matt muttered to himself, walking home slowly, hands in his pockets, "Sora likes Tai, Tai likes Sora, Sora has a date with...Tom. Tom? Who IS Tom?"

Looking up, he realized he was back in front of his door. He let himself in.

"I'm back." He called dully.

"Matt!" Kari skidded in to his path from the kitchen, armed with a giant spoon full of cookie dough, "What happened? How'd it go?"

Matt slumped down wearily on the couch, "You wouldn't believe me if I told you."

"That phrase is lost on anyone digidestined, big brother." TK drawled, wandering into the room with a bowl of cookie dough and two spoons, "Try me."

Matt stared at the bowl, "Aren't you going to bake that?"

Kari looked at him like he'd grown a second head, "Of course not. Matt, if you don't answer my question..."

"Well..." Matt reached for a spoon, "Sora has a date..."

Kari smiled softly, "I knew it."

Matt continued, "...with Tom."

Kari crinkled up her forehead and glanced over at TK, who shrugged. She looked back at Matt, who was eyeing a blob of cookie dough suspiciously, "Who's Tom?"

"I was hoping you could tell me."

Kari shook her head, "Poor Tai. He's going to be devastated. Wait! Matt, did you give her the letter?"

"No, luckily I let her go first." Matt said, "Because if Sora read that letter, we'd have a real mess on our hands..."

* * *

Sora was almost finished cleaning up shop when she noticed Matt's coat on the back of a chair. She glanced at her watch, "I've got time. I might as well run it over to him."

She picked up the coat, turned the sign on the door to "Closed", and was about to set off, when something fell out of the pocket.

"What's this?" She snatched up the hastily folded sheet of paper from the floor, looked around guiltily, and opened it, "Dear Sora...I love y- ..oh my."

For a moment, her heart leapt into her throat, and she saw an image of Tai laughing in that carelessly joyful way of his. And then she remembered the way Matt had reacted when she'd told him about her date. She skipped the letter and read the signature. The page had been pulled from the printer before it was done, leaving a few smudged lines where the name had been.

Again she thought of Tai, but forced it down, "No, don't kid yourself, Sora. Matt's news, Matt's pocket...Matt's letter."

She took a deep breath, "I should probably read it."

By the time Sora was finished reading "Matt's" love letter, her eyebrows had disappeared into her hairline, "Wow. What a letter. Mimi's gonna- Oh my God, Mimi."

Matt and Mimi had been going out for nearly six months. Everyone was moderately surprised at first-and extremely apprehensive-but not for long. Somehow, against all odds, they were wonderful together. Of course they had their...speed bumps, but it is the mark of a Digidestined to go through life living the extraordinary. Matt and Mimi were no exception. When they fought, they _fought_. And when they were at their best, they completed each other. Matt kept Mimi down to Earth and up in the clouds all at once, and Mimi brought out a lighter side in Matt that he lost sight of all too often.

And now Sora was standing in her mother's flower shop holding a confession of love from Matt, of all people. She felt as though she might scream, "Why did he write this letter to me? Why? What am I going to do? Mimi's mad about him! Oh...this is not good.

A pause, "That jerk! Does he think he can just trade us off?! God! We're not interchangeable! I need to talk to Tai. Maybe he can talk some sense in to Matt. Or just hit him. This is insane."

She stormed out of the flower shop, carting along the jacket and the letter, and headed for Tai's place.

* * *

The cookie dough bowl was half empty when Matt voiced the question on everyone's mind, "Think I should call Tai?"

"I don't know." TK said slowly, "Maybe we should just back off. Don't you think we've done enough already?"

Matt looked extremely guilty for a split second, but still went on to say, "I really don't want him to find out the hard way. It'll hurt, regardless; but won't it hurt more if he walks in on her kissing some guy? I personally would like the chance to prepare myself, rather than have it sprung on me by the girl herself."

"Well when you put it that way..." Kari said uncertainly, still not convinced.

There was a long pause, during which Matt fidgeted uncharacteristically. Finally, when he could apparently stand it no longer, he leapt to his feel, "I'm going to go talk to him."

TK sighed, "I'm not so sure about this, Matt."

Kari gave him a serious look, "I don't want my brother hurt."

Matt sent them both a trademark grin, which unsurprisingly did nothing to reassure them, "Don't worry. I'll take care of everything."

TK and Kari stared at each other across an uncooked blob of cookie dough. Neither of them needed to say "That's what I'm afraid of."

* * *

a/n: Can you tell how much I was craving cookie dough when I wrote this? Yeah, wasn't pretty.

Let's see...chapters three and four are finished, and I'll probably post them on Thursday and Saturday. I can't wait for you guys to read chapter four. I spent so much time on it. After that, there'll be an epilogue, but it's not quite finished.

Please drop me a review, I'd love to know what you thought. I'll see you all on Thursday!!

Vera


	3. three

I Never Told You special edition: part three

a/n: And here we have chapter three, which is largely the same as it was when I originally posted it, but is also the point where the large plot changes start happening. There's some fun Matt and Tai dialogue that I will never tire of writing, and finally a chapter ending that makes sense. I'm sure you're all very excited, heh. Enjoy!

Linkolas- I agree with you completely. Sora would have to be pretty delusional to think that letter was from anyone but Tai. But consider this. There have probably been about a thousand other times when she thought he liked her, but they never panned out. Why would she want to do that to herself again? It's safer to assume that you're wrong. Her first instinct was that it was from Tai, but she didn't let herself believe it.

Disclaimer: Digimon is the property of Toei Animation Studios.

* * *

Tai paced back and forth in his dimly lit room holding a crumpled piece of paper in his hand and facing the decision of a lifetime, "Give it to her...don't give it to her...give it to her...AAH! What do I do?!"

The reluctant leader of the Digidestined stopped pacing momentarily, as if waiting for an answer, and then let out an exasperated sigh, "This is so pointless. I am standing in my room, pacing, and talking to myself. I must be losing my mind."

"That seems to be a pretty good assumption."

Tai spun around, startled, to see who had the nerve to enter his room unbidden. Blonde hair, blue eyes, irritating smirk...

"Hey Matt."

Matt smiled warily, "Hey Tai. Can we talk?"

The tone of Matt's voice immediately put Tai on guard, and he narrowed his eyes suspiciously, "Ok, what did you do?"

Matt invited himself the rest of the way in to Tai's room and sat on the edge of his bed, "it's not exactly what I did. It's more like...what Kari and I did."

Tai's expression darkened, "Spill."

"Uh...you know that letter you're holding? The one for Sora?" Matt asked, nodding toward the piece of paper Tai was clutching.

"Yeah?"

Matt looked at his friend expectantly, waiting for the light to come on. It didn't take long.

Tai's eyes widened, a blush creeping in to his features, "How do you know about that? Matt! What's going on?!"

Matt laughed nervously, "That would be the 'Kari' part."

Tai waited for an explanation. Matt continued, "Well, she rang the doorbell and got you out of your room, and then she got a picture of your letter."

Tai growled, "I'll kill her later. Where do you come in to all of this?"

"Kari came and showed TK and I the letter, and I figured it would be a good idea to show it to Sora..." Matt wasn't sure he'd ever seen Tai's face turn quite that shade of red.

"YOU WHAT?!" Tai yelled, jumping for Matt's throat. Matt let out a startled yelp and jumped away from Tai, "Will you let me FINISH?"

"Fine." Tai grumbled, backing off slightly.

Matt glared at him, "Now I know why we get in so many fights."

"Just get on with it."

"Alright, like I was trying to tell you when you attacked me, I didn't get a chance to show Sora your letter." Tai visibly relaxed at that, but it didn't last long, "Don't get too excited. That's the good news."

Tai sighed, "Go figure. What's the bad news?"

Matt looked at his feet and said, "You know, Tai, I really don't want to tell you this. But I thought it would be best if you heard it from me."

Tai stared at Matt head-on, "What is it?"

"Tai, I know how much Sora means to you. I knew before I saw the letter. All of us did, except for her." He shook his head, frustrated, "Sora's the one, buddy. And so are you, but she's not going to wait forever. She has a date with some guy named Tom. I shouldn't have taken that letter to her, but I don't want you to miss your chance. Tai, do something about this, or you will lose her. Look, do you remember when Datamon-"

"Yes." Tai cut in.

Matt nodded, "Good. Don't forget."

Tai was staring hard at his shoes moments later, when the doorbell rang. He glanced up a Matt, who headed for the door, "Yeah, I'll get it. Just a sec."

"Thanks."

When Matt wandered over to the Kamiyas' front door and opened it he expected to see anyone but-

"Sora!" Matt exclaimed, his voice a bit higher than usual. He could practically feel Tai tense up in the next room.

"Matt." She said, almost coldly, he thought, "I was expecting Tai."

Matt was genuinely puzzled by the way Sora was looking at him. When he's been at the flower shop she'd been positively bubbly, and now she was like a different person. He moved to block her entrance to the apartment, thinking that Tai would nee a minute, "You know, this probably isn't the best time."

"Matt, just get out of my way." She practically growled.

Matt took a step back involuntarily, "Ok, what is it? This isn't like you."

"Suddenly you're the expert." She spat, "What did you expect?"

Matt just stared at her.

"Here. You left your jacket." She said, holding it out. But she was holding some thing else too.

"Sora. Did you read that?" Matt whispered.

"I read it. Never gonna happen, Matt." She said, then turned on her heel and walked off, adding over her shoulder, "Apparently you don't know me that well after all."

Matt was left standing in the open doorway in shock. All he could think of was how much he didn't want to turn around and see the look on Tai's face. He realized right away that there had to have been some kind of misunderstanding. He hadn't been wrong about them. Sora would never say anything to deliberately hurt Tai. There was only one solution, he decided. That simply hadn't been Sora. Yeah, that was it.

He made himself turn around, and there was Tai, looking angrier than he'd seen him in quite a while. Not what he'd been expecting.

"Thanks Matt."

Matt almost started laughing out of the pure insanity of the situation, "I must have left my coat there. I didn't lie to you. Tai, you know there must be more to this than we know. Sora didn't mean that."

Tai just stared at him, keeping up the angry act even though he knew Matt wouldn't buy it. Matt looked away first.

"I'll fix this." He muttered, and he went after Sora. Tai shut the door behind him.

* * *

a/n: Isn't it sad that the ridiculous situations we throw the digidestined into aren't much worse than the things we get into ourselves?

Well, I'm very excited about the next chapter. I'll post it on Saturday sometime, so please leave me a review and tell me what you thought of this one, and check back for the rest!!! Thanks!

Vee


	4. four

I Never Told You special edition: part four

a/n: Ah, the elusive chapter four. I honestly thought I'd never get here. I hope that you all love this chapter as much as I do...I gave it everything I've got. Thanks so much to my reviewers. I write for you as much as for myself. So here it is, three years in the making. Enjoy!

Disclaimer: I do not own Digimon, though at times it seems to own me.

Dedication: To Lilac Kamiya, who helped me out with this fic the first time around, though she may not remember.

* * *

Matt could not find Sora anywhere, and he was not happy about it, "Where is she , where is she, where IS she?"

He had already checked the flower shop, the soccer field, and the traditional Digidestined meeting place in the park. There was no sign of her, "If I were Sora, where would I be?"

He looked up and saw a payphone, "If I were Mimi I would know."

Little did he know that Sora had been in that very phone booth a mere 10 minutes before, dialing the exact same number.

"Hello?"

Matt smiled and rested his forehead against the phone, "God Meems, it's good to hear your voice. You would not believe the day I've had."

"You don't say." Mimi monotoned. Matt entirely missed her tone of voice, just happy to hear it.

"I need your help." He said, "I can't find Sora. Where do you think she'd-"

Mimi cut him off angrily, "Oh, really? Looking for Sora?"

Matt blinked in surprise. Had the whole world gone crazy? He steeled himself and said, "Um...yes?"

And that's when Mimi started yelling, "You listen to me, Matt Ishida! (Matt winced.) I have never been so angry in my entire life! I don't know what I did to you, but I really don't think I deserve this! I thought you...I thought that you..."

Matt's stomach lurched, "Mimi, will you please just tell me what's going on?"

"Tell you where Sora is, you mean?" She snapped, "You know Matt, I think I'll just call Izzy."

"Izzy?" Matt asked weakly.

"Yes. Izzy." Mimi went on, "Maybe he would appreciate me."

Matt pulled the phone away from his ear and stared at it in disbelief. He decided that Mimi must have lost her mind. He swallowed hard and put the receiver back to his ear.

"-writing love letters to my best friend!"

Matt froze, "What did you say?"

"I said maybe he could refrain from writing love letters to my best friend!!" She practically yelled.

"Oh." And suddenly it all made sense, "Oh no. Mimi, I'll have to call you back."

"Don't you dare hang up on me, Matt Ishida!"

Matt hung up on her and took off at a run for Tai's house.

* * *

Tai was sprawled out on the couch, beyond distraught, when the doorbell rang. He considered not getting up at all, but finally decided to drag himself over to the door. After all, it was the least he could do; Matt must be _really_ sorry if he actually felt the need to use the doorbell. He started yelling to him before he reached the door, "Look, thanks for trying, but if she doesn't want to be found you're not going to-"

He opened the door and found Sora standing there with a smile that, as always, made him dizzy, "-find her."

"Hey Tai. Matt's not here, is he?" She asked, going up on tip-toes and looking over his shoulder.

"Ah...no. He's out looking for you." Tai followed her into the living room, where she sat down on the couch and pulled a throw pillow into her lap to keep her hands occupied.

She took a deep breath and let it out, "Good. I need to talk to you."

Tai fidgeted a bit, but Sora didn't seem to notice. She just plowed on ahead, "Tai...Matt wrote me a love letter."

He nearly had a heart attack. That was one of many things he hadn't been expecting...but today seemed to be the day for the unexpected, "He did what?"

"He wrote me a love letter." She repeated, "He stopped by the flower shop today to tell me something, but I told him about my date tonight and he started acting very...odd. He ran off before I could get anything out of him. And then I noticed he'd left his coat so I picked it up and something fell out of the pocket, and it was this truly beautiful letter..."

She paused, "Tai, why are you looking at me like that?"

"Can I see the letter?"

Sora pulled a crumpled piece of paper from her pocket and handed it to Tai. He glanced over the copied letter, noted the smudged signature, and wordlessly walked from the room. When he came back, he was holding a sheet of notebook paper, nearly as rumpled as the one she'd shown him, "I wasn't going to give this to you, but I don't seem to have much of a choice at this point, do I?"

"What is it?"

He didn't say anything. He just watched her look from the letter itself, to the signature, and then finally, back up at him. He couldn't read the expression on her face because, even with all their years of friendship, he'd never seen it before. She swallowed the lump in her throat, "Are you joking?"

He shook his head.

She stood up, "Then you're serious."

He nodded.

Sora took a tentative step forward and placed her fingertips lightly on his chest. He breathed in shakily. She looked as though she wanted to say something, but decided on a little smile, a slight shake of her head. She steeled herself.

Tai had never been so shocked in his life (and Sora had never been more nervous) as when she leaned in and brushed her lips lightly against his. It was that moment on a rollercoaster ride when you're poised on the edge, just about to go over, it was that dream you have...the one where you can fly. It was the finale of a fireworks show, and they both knew that it was far from over.

Tai stared at Sora, completely speechless. She couldn't stop grinning at the look on his face. She was relieved to see that he was still Tai; still her goofy goggle-boy best friend. Nothing had changed.

"Looks like the ball's back in your court, buddy boy." She taunted, "Let's hope you can keep up."

Tai threw his head back and laughed in that carelessly joyful way of his. Sora grabbed the front of his shirt, pulled him down, and kissed him again.

* * *

a/n: Well, there it is. Hope you liked it. There'll be an epilogue up on Monday sometime, and then I'm thinking I'll write a Sorato prequel and a Takari sequel. I also have a Takari wedding fic in the works with a bit of a twist. I won't be posting them as quickly a I did this one, but I'll get them up as fast as I can. Check back for the epilogue, and please leave me a review!! Thank you!!

Vera


	5. epilogue

I Never Told You special edition: epilogue

a/n: To anyone who read the last chapter and was a bit startled by my final author's note, I'd like to clear things up a bit. I'm not planning on doing a Sorato prequel. I'm planning on doing a _Mimato_ prequel. I must have been really tired when I posted that. In any case, it's fixed now. Thanks for pointing that out to me, Linkolas. Now, sit back and enjoy. I am amazed it took me so long to get this far. Yeah, slow and steady wins the race. Or something. -grin-

Disclaimer: Digimon is no possession of mine.

Dedication: This fic, as a whole, is for Tai, because he deserves it.

* * *

Matt was tired, sweaty, exasperated, confused, and just plain fed up. From now on, there would be no meddling in other people's lives. None. It obviously wasn't worth it. Not as if it was his fault. Kari should've known what would happen if she dangled something like that in front of him. I mean, how long had she known Matt and Tai as friends? Of course he took it to Sora! He wanted Tai to be happy. The guy needed Sora, and for all of his innate courage, Tai was a complete wuss. So the natural thing was to give him a nudge in the right direction. Right? _Right?_

'Okay, maybe not.' He conceded

Matt was so intent on his thoughts that he almost didn't see them. He ran all the way past the ice cream shop, skidded to a halt, stood on the sidewalk with a bewildered expression on his face for a few moments, and then backtracked. And there they were on the other side of the enormous glass window, digging in to an almost frighteningly large banana split. Kari caught sight of him first, waved cheerfully, and motioned him inside. Against his own better judgment, he went in.

"What's going on, Matt? You've been gone for ages!" She said around a mouthful of ice cream.

Matt stared at her, and as any other person under as much stress as he was at that moment would, could think of nothing to say other than, "Don't you two ever stop eating?!"

"Are you alright, Matt?" TK asked, genuinely concerned.

"No!" He said loudly enough to turn a few heads in their direction, "It's a disaster! I didn't know there could _be_ disasters like this."

Kari started to remind him of what he and Mimi went through to get where they were now, but thought better of it. In any case, she wouldn't have gotten the chance. A very strange expression flickered over Matt's face, and he suddenly made a run for the door, muttering to himself, "What am I doing? I don't have time for this!"

When he was gone, Kari sent TK a nervous look, but he only smiled, "No, don't worry. It'll all work out in the end. Here...do you want the cherry?"

And soon they had forgotten everything except for the bowl of ice cream between them, and each other.

* * *

Ten minutes later it was all Matt could do not to jump up and down in frustration as he rode the slowest elevator in the world up to Tai's place. He couldn't believe what a horrible day he was having. Granted, it wasn't half as bad as Tai's...no. No, it was definitely worse. All he could think was, 'Leader-boy's lucky I owe him so much.'

The elevator opened, and he was off.

Looking back, he would eventually laugh at the memory of the next few moments...but it wouldn't be any time soon. He banged on Tai's door, watched it swing open, and somehow, against all odds, found Tai and Sora standing there together, both grinning in a way he'd never seen except when they were talking about the other, having obviously worked it out all on their own. Matt couldn't bring himself to find it half as amusing as they did. He nearly cried.

"Don't tell me." Matt said, dead serious, "I don't want to know."

Tai somehow managed to keep a straight face, but his eyes still gave him away. Besides, Matt knew that smirk. He didn't have to see it, "Look Matt, I appreciate the effort and all, but maybe next time just...don't."

Matt didn't bother to respond; he simply turned on his heel and walked away. He had almost made it to the elevator when he heard Sora add, "Oh and Matt, you might want to give Mimi a call."

Matt put his face in his hands and groaned.

The End

* * *

a/n: Hmm...I'm not sure if that turned out quite the way I wanted it. I hope you all liked it, though. Keep and eye out for some new work from me. I'm thinking of re-writing and finishing No Greater Love the way I did this one, and I've got three other fics in the planning stages. Please please leave me a review. Your feedback keeps me going. And thanks SO much to all my readers. It's good to be back.

Veranda


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